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Ready or Not? The Scarleteen Sex Readiness Checklist

Thinking about partnered sex? Do yourself a favor and look through our checklist to get a good idea bout the readiness of you and your partner -- it's more complicated and demanding than many people think, and knowing what you need to get ready can help assure that your sexual experiences with a partner will be as great for both of you as possible.

With Pleasure: A View of Whole Sexual Anatomy for Every Body

Usually, when we’re looking at a layout of sexual anatomy it's through the lens of reproduction, so it’s all about penises and vaginas, testes and uteri. But from a standpoint of pleasure and sexual response, sexual anatomy is about far more than genitals and is far less about reproductive organs.

Birth Control Bingo

Click through a series of detailed questions to narrow down your own best methods, become a pro on what method your partner is using, or windowshop in-depth info pages on each contraceptive option. With 25 integrated pages of teen and twentysomething-specific information, plenty of links, questions and answers, we've done our very best to help you protect yourself from unwanted pregnancy.

All About S.E.X.: The Scarleteen Book!

Get your hands on S.E.X.: the in-depth and inclusive young adult sexuality guide by Heather Corinna! Check out reviews, the table of contents and a myriad of places you can get your very own copy of the sexuality primer for every body.

Does Abstinence Make the Heart Grow Fonder?

What we are talking about here is celibacy, the deliberate choice not to have a sexual partner for any period of time. There's nothing ambiguous about that. Being celibate entails sharing NO sexual acts with a partner: any kind of intercourse (vaginal or anal), oral sex, manual sex, and so forth. In other words, no physical, sexual contact with others; meaning any genital (penis or vulva) touch, with mouths, hands or anything else between you and someone else is off limits.

Let's Get Metaphysical: The Etiquette of Entry

From both our personal experiences of our own varied sex lives, and in our work in sexuality with many other people, it seems pretty clear that really letting someone into an internal space in your body, or going into someone else's insides -- which we know might sound a little gross, but that is what's going on with this stuff -- is a fairly big deal for many people. So, what might make sexual entry different from other sexual activities?

Bi the Dozen: A Bisexuality Quiz

Are bisexuals just confused, or are they opportunists? Do you have to have sex with people of both sexes to know you're bisexual? What do you really know about bisexuality? Think you've got all the answers? Check your bi-Q!

Shown Actual Size: A Penis Shape & Size Lowdown

Throw a rock at any sex education site or service, ask what the most common question we get is from men and we'll all tell you that it's about penis size. We don't imagine with this piece we'll never get asked again, but we're hoping these answers get you guys better filled in so you can feel good about yourselves, your penises and whatever you do (or don't) do with them.

Be a Blabbermouth! The Whys, Whats and Hows of Talking About Sex With a Partner

You can read everything from the Kama Sutra to The Joy of Sex, watch porn vids until your eyeballs fall out, have a ton of sexual experience or psychically channel Mata Hari or Casanova, but if you don’t know how to openly communicate with your partners -- with your words -- chances are neither you nor your partner are going to have really healthy, beneficial and satisfying sexual experiences, especially in the long-term. So, read up and start talking!

Safe, Sound & Sexy: A Safer Sex How-To

Because of the way that sexuality works in all of us, the more responsible we are, and the more safe and protected we feel, the easier it is to be really aroused and to enjoy sex: which is the point, right?

My Corona: The Anatomy Formerly Known as the Hymen & the Myths That Surround It

The mythical status of the hymen has caused far too much harm for far too long. Last spring, RFSU published an information booklet intended to dispel some of the myths surrounding the hymen and virginity, including a new, improved term for the anatomy, the vaginal corona.

Vagzilla! (Or, All Genitals Great and Small)

If we're going to think of our genitals as big, any one of us, given the small range between them, we should think everyone's genitals are big. We also need to accept that it's ignorant or misinformed to think, presume or suggest that penises are big but vaginas are small, because we really are all about the same size. If thinking big is better for one sex, it's also got to be better for the other. So, if you or someone else is going to go on about some big penis, you'd best get just as excited about the idea of a big vagina, and make having a big ol'Vagowski just as cool. And if you're all hung up on the idea that the vagina be as small as it can possibly be, or is such a small thing, then you've got to accept that penises are small, too.

How Do You Masturbate?

The problem with asking how someone else how to do something that's just for and about yourself is that you know better than anyone else. But we can certainly fill you in on some basics. Includes the skinny on masturbation and UTIs, bleeding during mastrubation and on finding masturbation just isn't doing the trick.

Working the Kinks Out

I'm 15 and I have a wonderful boyfriend who I am very much in love with. My boyfriend is the sweetest, gentlest, most caring person I have met in a while and I know he really cares about me and it's totally mutual. The thing is, he has some crazy fetishes....not exactly crazy, but he really likes doing dominate-and-submissive stuff, where he gets to be the "slave." I know if I even said something like "I'm just not ready for stuff like that" or even that I don't like it, he'd be embarrassed. I don't want to do that to him! But I also do NOT want to feel pressured into doing anything just to make him happy, because I truly want to make him happy but when it comes to stuff I just don't really like that much, well if I let myself be pressured into one thing who knows what it could lead to. So how should I tell him without making him feel like crap?

An Immodest Proposal

Let’s just say – just because we can – that we, all women, in every sexual scenario imaginable, are already past both the no and the yes. Let’s say that nothing even starts without that yes, and that when it is issued, it is firmer, stronger and more exuberant than we may be able to presently imagine it could be. Let’s write a new ideal sexual initiation script. One that's a lot more interesting.

ED: Why You Don't Have to Get So Down About Not Getting It Up

You're forgiven if you think that even a little difficulty in this department means that you should start stocking up on Viagra. There are a number of falsehoods about ED floating around from schoolyards to saloons.

Kosher Sex: A Q&A on Jewish Sexuality

I don't know if you are Orthodox or not, but if you are, perhaps you've heard of a term called "taharat hamispocheh" (rough transliteration). These are the laws (halacha) of family purity, or so they're called. They cover life situations involving sexuality and sexual activity.

Misconception Mayhem: Separating Sexual Myths from Facts

Do all women orgasm from vaginal intercourse? Can masturbation make you blind? Do only men ejaculate? Scarleteen’s taking the time to debunk some of the most common misconceptions surrounding sex in one handy place.

Is Masturbation Okay? (Yep.)

The next time anyone tells you that only losers masturbate, or that they don't, and never would, bear this in mind: according to most studies and surveys, about 95% of adults have masturbated or continue to do so. Were many falsehoods and misconceptions about masturbation true, it would mean that 95 out of every 100 people would be blind, drooling psychopaths with hair on their palms and shrunken genitals.

Yield for Pleasure

There's a reason for taking things slowly, for putting off intercourse, or taking it away from center stage that often gets overlooked. I'm not talking about slowing things down for religious or moral ideals or social pressures. Not slowing things down to prevent STIs and pregnancy. Not even slowing things down for legal reasons or because of your age. I'm not talking about Just Say No, and I'm not talking about not having sex at all. I'm talking about PLEASURE.

Mouthing Off on Oral Sex

Many men and women engage in oral sex, and find it one of the most pleasurable of sexual activities. So long as you engage in it responsibly, it's normal, healthy, safe and natural. Here are the basics, and the answers to your most common questions -- no secrets, no flashing lights and sirens, just the lowdown on going down.

Safer Sex...for Your Heart

We talk a lot about sexual safety and safer sex here at Scarleteen in terms of your physical health. But what about checking in to see if sex is safe for you and yours emotionally? Taking care of your emotions, looking out for risk factors in advance -- not just when they become an existing crisis -- and safeguarding yourself, your partners and those around you from needless hurt and harm is just as important as doing what you can to prevent STIs and unwanted pregnancies.

What's Inside S.E.X.?

Have a look inside S.E.X.: the in-depth and inclusive young adult sexuality guide by Scarleteen's founder and editor. Full table of contents and links to online excerpts.

About That "Talk" with Your Parents...

Talking with your parents about sex can be really hard – even if your parents are really open and start the conversation themselves rather than you starting it – or even if your parents are totally supportive of your boyfriend or girlfriend and your sexual activities. Here are some tips and helps to make it easier on both of you.

From OW! to WOW! Demystifying Painful Intercourse

At least once every couple of days, a woman posts or writes into Scarleteen reporting that vaginal entry -- usually heterosexual intercourse or manual vaginal sex ("fingering"), and usually (but not always) with male partners -- is painful, uncomfortable, or unfulfilling for them. Whatever sort of vaginal entry we're talking about -- with fingers, a penis or a dildo, with partners of any gender -- not only doesn't have to be painful, it really shouldn't be. More than that, any kind of sex shouldn't be about a lack of pain, but about the presence of pleasure.